Playing ‘The Deep’ on Sony’s Project Morpheus was terrifying【RN24@E3】

My hands are still trembling after demoing The Deep on Project Morpheus, Sony’s virtual reality headset. The game brings players into the middle of shark-infested waters with only a flare gun and a flimsy steel cage for protection. It’s this generation’s Jaws in a new, terrifying reality never seen before, and will no doubt scar another decade of children who will be too scared to take a bath. Check out our hands-on review and have fun laughing at me screaming to myself during my battle against a Great White.

Sony’s demo of Project Morpheus required you to pick up a ticket to schedule time with the device. We ran straight to the booth first thing in the morning and were glad we did as tickets for the entire day were completely gone within half an hour. With my ticket secure, it was time for a victory photo:

▼ It is mine!!!

We had a little time to kill so we milled around the Nintendo booth right next door and headed back to the Sony section when it was our time to try out Project Morpheus. Stepping into the booth, the Sony attendant helped me put on my head set and, after a somewhat lengthy loading time, I was plunged into the sea where I found myself in a battered dive cage.

Everything’s all good, you’ve got your little flare gun in your right hand (yes, I realize I’m using both hands even though I didn’t need to, sorry) and you’re chilling out, able to look not only directly in front of you, but to the side and also behind. And then the shark comes and sh*t gets real. Excuse my language, that’s the only way I can accurately explain what it felt like to be in the world of The Deep.

There were moments when I was truly terrified (as you’ll see in the video) and felt as if I were actually submerged in a steel cage going up against an all-too-hungry shark. The puny pea-shooter of a flare gun you’re given to defend yourself with only adds to the desperation as you fiercely try to avoid gnashing rows of teeth. Just take a look at the video and tell me what I was seeing wasn’t truly terrifying:

One common complaint about VR is that it makes you feel a bit queasy, but none of our crew was feeling green after their plunge into the deep. However, we spoke with a few Sony folks running the booth and they admitted to feeling a little sick after trying out the Street Luge demo, which hurls players feet first down a mountain roadway full of cars.

If I had any complaint, it would be that the 5-minute demo (which is just a small snippet of the full version), was too long. I found myself lost in the dangerous world Sony had created, my heart racing as I desperately hoped for my comrades up top to “pull me up already.” Sitting here typing at the safety of my keyboard, I’m thinking I’d like to give it another go, but my still-trembling fingertips tell a different story.

We’ll be showing off our time playing Alien: Isolation with Oculus Rift and giving you a comparison later, but for now, I’ll just say that based on the two demos I’ve played at E3, Project Morpheus has hands-down won the VR war.